Apple puts its foot down on apps tracking user’s location with new iOS 11 setting

Apple showed off a number of interesting features added to its upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 11, earlier this week at WWDC 2017. But some of its most promising additions weren’t announced until after the big event.

One of those is a change to security settings that lets users decide at what times an app can access location data from their smartphone.

The new location setting option is called, “Only while using the app,” and it works just as you would expect. When enabled, apps are only able to get information about your location when they are in use, not when they are sitting in the background. As TechCrunch points out, apps that have been criticized for demanding complete access to your location will no longer be able to gather data on your whereabouts after you close out of them.

In 2015 Uber updated its privacy settings to allow it to track your location when it is running in the background. The changes sparked controversy last year when users noticed the app was tracking their location days, or even weeks after they last used it. Uber said the issue was caused by an iOS extension launched by Apple.

Now you don’t have to worry about who is putting your privacy at risk. You might even be able to squeeze out a bit more of that precious battery life after disabling those intrusive background processes.

iOS 11 is expected to be released sometime in September around the launch of the iPhone 8.